Improvement in filters



UNITED STATES PATENT OrricE EIEDsILL EoLLnoE LooKroE'r, NEW YORK.

aMsaovErviENT 1N FILTERS.'

Specification forming part of ALetters Patent No. 113,516, dated April1l, 1871.

-To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, BrRDsrLL HOLLY, of Lockport, in the county ofNiagara and State of New York, have invented a new and- Improved WaterFilter; and I do herebyvdeclare that the following is a full, clear; andexact description thereof,

reference being had to the accompanying drawing making part of vthisspecification, in which- Figure l is a top view of the filter. Fig. 2isa section taken longitudinally and vertically Athroughthe center of thefilter.

means of which latter pipe aud the valve in thel discharge-pipe a streamof water under pressure can `be forced into the filtering-vessel and upthrough the ltering material when it is desired to cleanse the latter ofmud and other impurities, as will be hereinafterexplained.

The following description of my invention will enable others skilledinthe art to understand it.

i. In the accompanyingdrawing, A represents a vessel, which may he madeof any suitable capacity,.and Which is provided at one end or near itstop with an overflow-spout, c. This overflowspont affords an escape forwater dining the operation of cleaning out the filter. At thebottom ofthe vessel A a number of pipes, B, is arranged horizontally, and iscarried outside of the vessel A and connected to a transverse pipe, C.Those portions of pipes B which are within the vessel A are perforatedfor allowing the escape of 'Water, which is filtered by passing throughsand or other suitable filteringmaterial or materials iu the vessel A.The dischargepipe C is provided with a cock, c, and at a suitable point,a pipe, D7 which is also provided with a cock, b, is connected to pipeC, as shown inboth figures of the drawing.' During the operation offiltering the cock b .is sluit and cock c is open, and Water passes downthrough the filtering material in the Vvessel A into pipes B, and outthrough the pipe C into the mains. When the filtering material becomesclogged with mud and other foreign' substances these arefvashed away byshutting the cook c, opening the cock b, and forcing water through pipesD B into the vessel A, and up through the filteriu g material. The muddywater will flow ofi.' through the spout c.

' I intend to `employ this filter in connection with my improved system.of supplying' cities with water; .but it-is obvious that it may be usedfor filtering water which flows from reservoirsl I know th at in theconstructionl of water-filters it has been proposed to so arrange themas to bring a reverse current of Water to remove the mud or otherlsubstances that would otherwise lsoon obstruct the` flow. of vwaterthrough such filter; but inthose cases the ltering materials have vbeenconfined between two perforated da.

I have found by repeated experiment that the l interposition ofthe upperdiaphragm prevents the cleansing process from being effectual; but thatwhen the filteringk material is placed in' a single chamber, so aslto beunconlined above, the inverted current 'thoroughlypermeates 'allportions of these materials so as to lwholly cleanse# them from all theimpurities which they may have collected, and that these, through thefree overflow at th.e top,'will' soon be removed from the vessel, sothat the process of filtration may soon recommence as lfreely and asperfectly 'as in the first instance.

v. Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent,

isf In arreter-filtering vessel, A, the perforated pipe-s B B1B,dischargepipe C, inlet-pipe D, and cocks c b, when 'saidvessel is.constructed Without any diaphragm or its equivalent, so placedas toprevent the filtering materials from being.

freely and thoroughly cleansed, the Whole constructed and arrangedsubstantially as and for the purpose above described.

Vitness my hand in matter of my application for a patent forVimprovedWater-filter this 15th day of February, A. D. 1871. 1

BIRDSILL HOLLY. y

Witnesses:

It. T. CAMPBELL, J. N. CAMPBELL. l,

